As Hollywood shows sheep-factored desperation to sign up anything and everything the games industry has to offer, one of the more promising of the emerging silver screened conversions has to be the looming Tekken movie, with recent comments from Charles Stone III firing anticipation levels no end.
"I tell you one thing,” Stone stated in an interview with About. “One concern of mine is that the fighting be good, because I personally think the fighting in something like The Matrix which a lot of people were like wow, doesn’t do it for me. Because I grew up with the Hong Kong films where the way the fighting is filmed, it’s filmed for the choreography of the actual art form. Whereas in America, we photograph fighting films with long lenses really up close, and then the editing becomes the choreography. He continued, “because the fighters, American art form of fighting is not as great as, say, martial arts. So there’s no appreciation for that, so we have to construct the choreography with the filmmaking more than allowing the artist to do amazing fighting.”
Fighting. Cool!
Stone went on, in a different interview, this time with IESB, to take a pop at game movies that have scarred the cinema in recent times. “It will not be anything like Mortal Kombat or any of the Lara Croft movies. You will get the feeling of Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. I want the audience to get to know the characters, so when they have to battle each other it will be more dramatic."
Bruce Lee? Cool!
However, Stone went on to all but dash any hope of the rumoured inclusion of everyone’s favourite steel-plated skull lemming Jackie Chan. “Both Jet Li and Jackie Chan have been loosely attached to the film but we're now thinking of starting clean. It will have plenty of "A" list actors,” he said. Bah!
He also offered, again by way of IESB, the two treatments for the movie under discussion right now:
Version 1 - A worldwide martial arts tournament is nearing its final, with a large purse of prize money going to the fighter who can defeat Heihachi Mishima in the final round of the competition. The contest is sponsored by the giant financial group, the Mishima Zaibatsu. There are eight fighters that remain after winning death matches all over the world. The winner of the tournament will receive The King of the Iron Fists title. Who will be the one to defeat Heihachi Mishima and take home the prize money and fame? Will it be you?
Version 2 - Towards the end of the 20th century, a mysterious challenge went out to all who were deserving. No one knows from where it originated, but its draw was irresistible. The promise of power and riches beyond those attainable by the common man all to go to the survivor. From the depths of the lower earth to the far reaches of the outlands the call escaped no one. Many perished during the mortal street fights that were only a preview of the challenges that were to come. Only 8 remain, those with the true killer instinct, all ready to die, to gain the title of "TEKKEN", "Lord of the Rave War."
Expect to see Tekken go into production at some point early next year. We’ll bring you updates as required.
"I tell you one thing,” Stone stated in an interview with About. “One concern of mine is that the fighting be good, because I personally think the fighting in something like The Matrix which a lot of people were like wow, doesn’t do it for me. Because I grew up with the Hong Kong films where the way the fighting is filmed, it’s filmed for the choreography of the actual art form. Whereas in America, we photograph fighting films with long lenses really up close, and then the editing becomes the choreography. He continued, “because the fighters, American art form of fighting is not as great as, say, martial arts. So there’s no appreciation for that, so we have to construct the choreography with the filmmaking more than allowing the artist to do amazing fighting.”
Fighting. Cool!
Stone went on, in a different interview, this time with IESB, to take a pop at game movies that have scarred the cinema in recent times. “It will not be anything like Mortal Kombat or any of the Lara Croft movies. You will get the feeling of Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. I want the audience to get to know the characters, so when they have to battle each other it will be more dramatic."
Bruce Lee? Cool!
However, Stone went on to all but dash any hope of the rumoured inclusion of everyone’s favourite steel-plated skull lemming Jackie Chan. “Both Jet Li and Jackie Chan have been loosely attached to the film but we're now thinking of starting clean. It will have plenty of "A" list actors,” he said. Bah!
He also offered, again by way of IESB, the two treatments for the movie under discussion right now:
Version 1 - A worldwide martial arts tournament is nearing its final, with a large purse of prize money going to the fighter who can defeat Heihachi Mishima in the final round of the competition. The contest is sponsored by the giant financial group, the Mishima Zaibatsu. There are eight fighters that remain after winning death matches all over the world. The winner of the tournament will receive The King of the Iron Fists title. Who will be the one to defeat Heihachi Mishima and take home the prize money and fame? Will it be you?
Version 2 - Towards the end of the 20th century, a mysterious challenge went out to all who were deserving. No one knows from where it originated, but its draw was irresistible. The promise of power and riches beyond those attainable by the common man all to go to the survivor. From the depths of the lower earth to the far reaches of the outlands the call escaped no one. Many perished during the mortal street fights that were only a preview of the challenges that were to come. Only 8 remain, those with the true killer instinct, all ready to die, to gain the title of "TEKKEN", "Lord of the Rave War."
Expect to see Tekken go into production at some point early next year. We’ll bring you updates as required.
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Comments
Joji 31 Aug 2004 12:14
1/4
Still not too sure about this one. Problem is that traditional cinema has trouble creating the same kind of atmosphere as a game. In the case of Tekken we all love the CG that Namco has used to help feed the storyline over the series, and like FF:AC it would look great onsceen, but I doubt if that's what we are gonna get.
This is a live action effort most likely, so again someone has chosen a good license with not such a strong storyline, which most likely means we are gonna lot of action and perhaps little else. I'll cross my fingers it turns out ok, but after Mortal Kombat I dunno. Don't even wanna think how they are gonna do Heihachi's hair, or lack of it, let alone Jack/Gunjack convincingly. As for possible name changes, I don't even wanna go there.
This is a live action effort most likely, so again someone has chosen a good license with not such a strong storyline, which most likely means we are gonna lot of action and perhaps little else. I'll cross my fingers it turns out ok, but after Mortal Kombat I dunno. Don't even wanna think how they are gonna do Heihachi's hair, or lack of it, let alone Jack/Gunjack convincingly. As for possible name changes, I don't even wanna go there.
ryohazuki-san 31 Aug 2004 15:59
2/4
Personally i think that this film might not b dat bad. Emphasis is being put on the importance of martial arts which is a deffinate for such a film. What really hyped me up was that they are thinkin of castin Jackie Chan, n i no exactly who dey theyd cast him as.
Ive seen the manga version and wasnt really that impressed with the amount of action. The story wasnt 2 bad but there wer some characters they didnt introduce propaly. Im wishin that they stick 2 da 2 story, not a bad concept that. Like u sed Joji, Namco's CGI is incredible, n going on those lines of film making is not bad at all.
Hopes r high on this 1!
___________________________________________
Dnt H8 da playa H8 da Game!
Ive seen the manga version and wasnt really that impressed with the amount of action. The story wasnt 2 bad but there wer some characters they didnt introduce propaly. Im wishin that they stick 2 da 2 story, not a bad concept that. Like u sed Joji, Namco's CGI is incredible, n going on those lines of film making is not bad at all.
Hopes r high on this 1!
___________________________________________
Dnt H8 da playa H8 da Game!
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Deviluck 31 Aug 2004 17:59
3/4
It is still a huge franchise, so we must realise that the movie will probably be seen by lots of people, i wonder if they will use CG or actual actors. I personally think its a silly idea, though better than making a PSI ops movie, as not many have played that game yet.
Coxy 2 Sep 2004 10:57
4/4
i think it would be good if they use cg